Cambodian Youth Have an Impact in Their Communities

April 10, 2012
Source: IRI

Phnom Penh, Cambodia – Launched in 2001, the Advanced Democracy Seminar – a month-long program offered by the Youth Council of Cambodia and supported by IRI – has taught more than 35,000 youth about civic education and civic activism.

Beginning in July 2010 and ending in May 2012, with funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development, IRI is evaluating more than 2,000 program participants to assess the impact of the program. This video follows three program graduates – Navy, Theara and Sarith – as they use what they have learned to improve their communities.

See the impact they are having.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akeBFLbCIdo

In memory of Ron Abney

January 3, 2012

IN MEMORY OF RON ABNEY

On December 31, 2011 I lost a dear friend, a comrade who was like a brother to me. Yes, we used to call each other “Brother”. I last met my American brother in May 2011 in Valdosta, Georgia, his home state. We only talked about Cambodia.

Ron Abney was loved and respected by countless Cambodians. He helped train scores of freedom fighters and justice lovers in this country and many other parts of the world. He was highly dedicated, generous and brave. He nearly died with me in a deadly grenade attack in Phnom Penh on March 30, 1997. He was seriously wounded in the attack. The criminal lawsuit we have filed against Prime Minister Hun Sen and his bodyguards is still pending at a court of justice in New York. His passing only increases my determination to find justice for all victims of political violence in Cambodia and to put an end to impunity in this country.

Ron’s spirit and principles will continue to guide me.

Sam Rainsy

Youth Representatives Debate Migrant Labor Policies

SRP and CPP youths debated each other on the IRI forum (Photo:Siv Channa, CEN)

Wednesday, 10 August 2011
Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh

“The flow of laborers to foreign countries is a sign that shows Cambodia lacks jobs.”

The Cambodian government came under criticism Wednesday for failing to create jobs for an influx of workers entering the market and instead sending too many workers abroad.

Speaking at a forum to discuss the government’s migrant worker policies, In Sam Ol, a youth representative for the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, said authorities had failed to develop an economy that could absorb some 137,000 workers this year alone.

“The flow of laborers to foreign countries is a sign that shows Cambodia lacks jobs,” he said, speaking at a forum for youth political representatives of the Sam Rainsy Party and ruling Cambodian People’s Party. “The countries receiving our laborers look down on our country. For this reason, we must prevent the flow of Cambodian laborers to foreign countries.”

IRI Releases Tunisia Poll

July 12, 2011

Washington, DC – IRI today released its second public opinion survey (PDF) in Tunisia and its analysis (PDF). Independent public opinion surveys were not permitted under President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, and the lack of current survey data has deprived Tunisian civil society and government officials of an important tool to understand and respond to citizen priorities. Fieldwork for this poll was conducted from May 14-27, 2011.

The survey was undertaken in cooperation with Elka Consulting, a Tunisia-based market survey research firm that was selected by IRI for its capability to conduct surveys throughout the country. A total of 1,281 interviews were completed yielding an overall margin of error of ± 2.78 percent at the midrange of the 95 percent confidence level.

Source: http://www.iri.org/news-events-press-center/news/iri-releases-tunisia-poll-0

IRI Statement Supporting Kem Sokha and The Cambodian Center for Human Rights

STATEMENT SUPPORTING KEM SOKHA AND THE CAMBODIAN CENTER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

October 22, 2010

Source:

http://www.iri.org/news-events-press-center/news/iri-statement-supporting-kem-sokha-and-cambodian-center-human-rights

“From 2002-2007, the International Republican Institute (IRI) directly supported the work of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) then headed by Kem Sokha. During that time, the Center was the only local organization hosting public forums around the country for citizens to discuss government policies, supporting human rights advocacy campaigns and investigations of human rights abuses. The CCHR also broadcast the Voice of Democracy radio program which was the only local independent source of news in Cambodia.

“As an organization supported by U.S. taxpayer funds CCHR was held to the highest standards of financial management and accounting practices, and over the course of IRI’s affiliation with CCHR, and its leader Kem Sokha, the Institute was satisfied that grant funds were well administered and that the work being carried out was critical to strengthening democracy in Cambodia.”

Two ‘Youth Leaders’ Arrive for US Visit [-The IRI could learn something about Cambodia from these two Cambodian youths as well?]

By Taing Sarada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
18 September 2009

“We saw the selection for a leader was made with an election open to the public, but the question is whether the election came from the people’s true will or not ... We also haven’t seen freedom of expression, and youth participation in politics is still limited. We want the government and organizations involved to develop, encourage and urge more improvement in this field.” - 21-year-old Yon Sophal

Two Cambodian youths who won a trip to the US from a television contest in Cambodia are meeting with US government officials and lawmakers.

In the contest, youth exhibit leadership skills, confidence and knowledge of democracy, in a program broadcast on CTN that is gaining in popularity.

This is the third sponsored trip conducted with support from the International Republican Institute and the Youth Council of Cambodia.

Yon Sophal, 21, a-third-year student at the University of Law and Economic Science in Phnom Penh, was one of the winners, in 2008.

In an interview with VOA Khmer in Washington, she said the most difficult of 10 subjects was community development; she had tried to convince villagers in Kandal province to rebuild a bumpy road.

“When I went down to persuade the community to participate with our activities, they always asked us whether the program would benefit them,” she said. “So we had to explain to them and lobby them to participate with our development program.”

Each contestant is required to undertake activities such as gathering signatures for a petition, public speaking, or community activism.

Yon Sophal said democracy so far in Cambodia can be slow, its processes unclear.

“We saw the selection for a leader was made with an election open to the public, but the question is whether the election came from the people’s true will or not,” she said. “We also haven’t seen freedom of expression, and youth participation in politics is still limited. We want the government and organizations involved to develop, encourage and urge more improvement in this field.”

Chhem Pe, 20, a fresh high school graduate from Siem Reap Province, was a winner in 2009.

“The most difficult episode of the contest was when I was trying to lobby people to provide blood in Phnom Penh to contribute their blood to the Cambodian national blood bank,” he said. “Some people did not like it. They said we were collecting blood to sell, not for donation.” They were nevertheless successful, he said.

Chhem Pe was also required to convince people in Svay Antor district, Prey Veng province, to fundraise for a small road, in an area where travelers often had difficulty during periods of flooding.

“Those countryside people have a lot of issues related to the health care services,” he said. “Normally, the health care services in the rural areas is not like in the city. The health care service there is not appropriate for them, so that makes them have serious problems.”

In a two-week trip, the two youths will meet officials and lawmakers and visit the Capitol, as well as museums and a professional baseball game. They will tour New York and visit the UN and the Asia Society.

John Willis, Cambodian country director for IRI, said that the youths will bring back good experiences to improve society.

“They are no longer a frog trapped in a well, who can only see the walls around him,” he said. “Winners come back to Cambodia having seen how a successful society works, and how its component parts fit together. They raise their expectations for their own country. They have met real role models for how they can improve their country themselves.”

Paper victory for the not well g-round-ed "rectangular strategy"?

Government claims victory for rectangular strategy

Friday, 30 May 2008
Neth Pheaktra
The Mekong Times

The implementation of the government’s “rectangular strategy” has been a success, government officials claimed Thursday.

The rectangular strategy, a cluster of priority policies, would achieve progress, prosperity, harmony and happiness for the Cambodian people, said Prime Minister Hun Sen when he launched the strategy in July 2004.

Cabinet Minister Sok An on Thursday gushed that the rectangular strategy had “brought in victory and achievement which are the basis for promotion of people’s health, the economy, job creation and poverty reduction.”

Speaking at a three-day national conference on the rectangular strategy that began Thursday, Sok An admitted there were some niggles to be ironed out. However, such changes would only further “promote people’s living conditions and the national economy, and reduce poverty,” he claimed.

Hun Sen’s assessment was equally glowing. “Overall, the third mandate government has achieved a great deal … [including] strengthening peace, social security and democracy,” the premier claimed. “[The rectangular strategy] has given us the opportunity to carry out decentralization and concentration policies and continue implementing reform programs.”

Hun Sen stressed efforts to strengthen state institutions and implement socio-economic policy as his government’s major achievements, saying he had the support of the Cambodian people, development partners and the private sector.

A recent International Republican Institute (IRI) survey seemed to agree with the premier’s assessment, with 77 percent of 2000 respondents though Cambodia was “headed in the right direction.” Only 20 percent the Kingdom was headed the wrong way in the IRI’s much-maligned data.

The three-day national conference will see government officials and development partners appraise the progress of the rectangular strategy and list challenges encountered during its implementation. The conference will finish Sunday.

IRI's demand for Freedom of Assembly is deemed biased by General Khieu Sopheak

US Group Calls for Freedom of Assembly

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
31 March 2008

The International Republican Institute issued a statement Monday calling on authorities to allow freedom of demonstration, in the wake of a threatened gathering by the opposition party.

The Sam Rainsy Party said Sunday, during a ceremony to honor those killed in a 1997 grenade attack, that it would call a massive demonstration over the government's inability to curb rising inflation.

The IRI said Monday it hoped the period leading into July's general election will allow "political parties and citizens alike the freely express their views," especially to honor those killed in the grenade attack.

Ministry of Interior spokesman Lt. Gen. Khieu Sopheak said Monday the IRI should remain neutral.

"IRI's statement is not right, because international NGOs are to be neutral," he said. "And the July 27 election is not an election to honor the memory of anyone, but for development and national construction."

In issuing a statement linking the grenade attack, which killed at least 16 people, and the election, the IRI was serving as a "tool" for a political party, he said.

"I think this IRI statement is not different from the policy of the opposition party," he said.

Student Democracy Advocate Visits US

Nuch Sarita, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
27 September 2007

Hing Soksan, an officer of the Students' Movement for Democracy, began a two-week visit to Washington last week, where he met US government leaders and attended leadership development training.

Hing Soksan was sponsored on his trip by the International Republican Institute, a US-based group that promotes democracy abroad.

He met with Anthony O'Donnell, a Maryland state legislator, as well as members of pro-democracy groups and State Department officials.

American youths are strong and independent and willing to take the government and their president to task, Hing Soksan said. This is different from the youth in Cambodia, who depend on the government, he said.

"Young adults in the US like to develop their independence, confidence and responsibilities," he said. "They have the courage to speak out on their views and directly identify problems. Young American adults especially have creative ideas where they continue to improve and refine on them. They make themselves valuable."

US youths are more able to attract political attention on issues, he said, whereas Cambodians seek out politicians for favors.

The Khmer Rouge tribunal was necessary in Cambodia, he said, where the youth remain under-educated over the regime and its policies.

US Institutes reject newspaper report

Monday, August 20, 2007
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

Two US institutes, the International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI), issued a joint statement regarding a report published by a local newspaper indicating that these two institutes helped strengthen the NRP, to the envy of the SRP. These two US organizations clarified that they did not provide any financial help to any political party because it would be against Cambodian law prohibiting them to provide financial contribution to any political party in Cambodia. The two organizations said that they provide support to various political parties through setting up training seminars, and providing them with research information. All these activities were conducted under a political plurality framework, or they were conducted for each party separately. The two organizations regret to see the publication of such information.

NDI and IRI invite you to a discussion with Mu Sochua in Washington DC

The National Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute invite you to attend a discussion on the recent commune council elections in Cambodia and the role of women in politics in Cambodia. We will be joined by Mu Sochua, a former Minister of Veterans and Women’s Affairs in Cambodia and the Secretary General of the Sam Rainsy Party.

Wednesday, May 16th
12:00-1:30pm
2025 M Street, NW
5th Floor
Washington, DC 20036

Mu Sochua will provide an overview of Cambodia’s April 1, 2007 commune council elections and give her presentation:

“Why Women in Politics? What Politics?”

On April 1, Cambodia held commune council elections for its 1,621 communes and urban sub-districts known as sangkats. These elections were an improvement over Cambodia’s first local elections held in 2002 elections. The level of violence and intimidation during the election period decreased significantly from 2002 levels and the National Election Committee (NEC) improved its administration of election day procedures and moved closer to neutrality by changing its composition to include two opposition party representatives. More citizens stood as candidates than in any other election in Cambodian electoral history – 12 political parties fielded a total of 102,266 candidates to compete for 11,353 council seats. A record number of women candidates ran in this election – 21 percent of the total number of candidates were women. Nevertheless, serious problems continue to afflict Cambodia’s electoral system. Problems related to the registration process, voter list, and low turnout were among some of the issues that marred the electoral process.

Mu Sochua is one of Cambodia’s leading advocates working to strengthen women’s political rights and prevent the trafficking of women and children. When the Khmer Rouge seized power in 1975, Sochua left Cambodia to live and study in France and later the United States. She returned to Cambodia after 18 years in exile. She ran in the 1998 elections and won a seat representing Battambang, one of the most war-torn provinces in Cambodia. From 1998 to 2004, she served as the Cambodian minister for women’s and veterans’ affairs – and was one of only two women serving the Cabinet. In December 2006, Mu Sochua was elected the first woman Secretary General of Cambodia's opposition Sam Rainsy Party. She is involved in numerous civic activities focused on strengthening the rights of women, defending human rights, and preventing the trafficking of women and children. She has also been engaged in campaigns to end domestic violence, including the successful campaign to pass Cambodia’s first law against domestic violence.

If you are able to attend, please RSVP to Michele Buckley at mbuckley@ndi.org or 202-728-5650. This event will be held at NDI’s office at 2025 M Street, NW on the 5th floor, across the street from NDI’s main office at 2030 M Street.

CCHR and VOD receive another blow after Kem Sokha's departure

IRI to cut all aid to CCHR

01 May 2007
By Huy Vannak
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

A high-ranking official from the International Republican Institute (IRI) told RFA on Tuesday that IRI decided to cut all the funds it provides to the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) at the end of May, and that it will fund the Voice of Democracy (VOD) radio only until September 2007.

IRI’s decision to cut all the funding took place after the departure of Kem Sokha, former CCHR President, to form his own political party, and also after the splitting of CCHR into two institutions: CCHR under the leadership of Ou Virak, and VOD under the leadership of Pa Nguon Tieng.

Regarding this issue, one official indicated that one reason for the end of the funding is because IRI itself is facing a decrease in its own funding. He also indicated that the IRI will review its decision to cut or continue funding the VOD.

Nevertheless, Ou Virak, CCHR President, claimed that his organization still receives a lot support from other aid organizations.

Pa Nguon Tieng, the VOD leader, discussed his strategy to guarantee the continuity of VOD by saying: “The first strategy is to regroup human resources in answer to the various requests made by fund providers. We don’t want to depend on a single funding source, we will expand our funding sources. Our second strategy consists of strengthening our particular strength, because for VOD, our main target is information, and in the past, VOD was successful in providing independent information.”

Will Kem Sokha's departure cripple CCHR activities?

CCHR to reduce staff by 70%

18 April 2007
By Sophorn
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

An official from the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) said that the organization plans to reduce its staff by 70%.

Ou Virak who was recently nominated as the new president of CCHR, said that the cause of the staff reduction is the lack of funding.

He said that the US-based International Republican Institute (IRI) is reducing the financial aid it provides to CCHR.

Following the resignation of Kem Sokha, the former president of CCHR, CCHR was split into two entities: one of which, the CCHR, is under the control of Ou Virak, and the other entity, the Voice of Democracy, is under the control of Pa Nguon Tieng.

Ou Virak said that CCHR is planning to educate local people about a new program known as the strengthening of the local power.

Ou Virak said: “The strengthening of the local power … includes the training of the people living in the local communities so they know about the role of the government, the role of the commune/sangkat government, in order to achieve transparency in the governance.”

The Apprentice Goes to Civics Class

Judges and contestants gather in the boardroom to decide who will be "going home" at the end of each episode of Youth Leadership Challenge.

A reality TV show brings U.S.-style democracy to Cambodia.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007
By Suzy Khimm
Posted at slate.com

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia—With her button-down blouse, plastic-frame glasses, and impeccable résumé—youth delegate to the United Nations, research assistant on rural economic development—Heng Socheata seems like an unlikely maverick.

"I didn't tell my friends to watch the show," the 21-year-old accounting student said. "If I won, it'd be OK. But if I failed, it'd be kind of embarrassing."

Socheata is among the young stars of a new reality TV show that quietly subverted the political orthodoxy of Cambodia's heavily censored broadcast networks—seven public and private stations all under the thumb of the ruling party. Part Apprentice spinoff and part civics class, the Youth Leadership Challenge replaces Donald Trump's aspiring moguls with 16 citizen-heroes who race around the capital collecting signatures for a neighborhood clean-up petition, producing a social-advocacy video, and soliciting donations for an orphanage.

In the show's inaugural season, which concluded last week, contestants were quick to adopt the true spirit of the genre: Reduced to tears one moment, they gave on-air confessionals the next. There have, for sure, been a few cross-cultural adjustments. Trump's trademark "You're fired!" was deemed too harsh for the Cambodians, two of whom were instead told to "Go home" each week. The prize for the last do-gooder standing was a trip to America, still the promised land for Cambodia's young and ambitious.

The program was the brainchild of the International Republican Institute, a USAID-funded and U.S. Republican Party-backed group that collaborated with the Youth Council of Cambodia to produce the show. IRI, along with its sister organization, the National Democratic Institute, was founded during the Reagan administration to aid U.S. efforts to promote—in some critics' parlance, "export"—democracy abroad, with offices now in Iraq, Haiti, and more than 40 other geo-strategic hot spots. Both groups still recall the spirit of the Cold War years, focusing on political-party development, civic mobilization, and election monitoring to promote "the nuts and bolts of democracy," according to Jerome Cheung, NDI's resident country director in Cambodia.

Of course, that the United States once bombed Cambodia in the name of such ideals isn't lost on this new wave of political missionaries. But Cambodia, unlike Vietnam, was forced to recover from Year Zero and the mass murder of nearly 2 million citizens. By 1992, when the U.N. occupation began, many Cambodians were ready to let in the phalanx of Western donors and aid groups at its door and begin the country's fitful transition to democracy.

Under the guise of its competitive theatrics, the Youth Leadership Challenge makes an indirect but unmistakable challenge to a government that continues to censor broadcasts of unfavorable news items, miniskirted entertainers, and portions of congressional hearings that seem threatening to the ruling party. In one high-profile crackdown, the IRI-backed Cambodian Center for Human Rights hosted a public forum that led to the arrest of CCHR director Kem Sokha and four colleagues on charges of defaming Prime Minister Hun Sen in late 2005, provoking an international outcry.

Barely a year later, the Youth Leadership Challenge featured a free-flowing debate about the national law prohibiting adultery, a bill mandating military conscription, and sex education in public schools. Between the frenzied yelps of the timekeeper, the contestants expounded, rebutted, and, occasionally, grabbed the microphone away from one another. "I don't know how we're supposed to argue against what we believe in," Socheata admitted in a fit of offstage nerves, moments before making the case for why women shouldn't be allowed to hold high political office.

According to local media trainer Moeun Chhean Nariddh, the program's unscripted antics have helped usher in "one of the most serious and political programs in Cambodia. … All networks are either censored or self-censored, as everything is controlled by or affiliated with the ruling party."

Local observers are still wondering how the kids have gotten away with it. For years, IRI had been commonly perceived as supporting the opposition Sam Rainsy Party—an allegation bolstered in 1997 when an IRI staffer was wounded in a grenade attack on an opposition rally he was attending, as well as by Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell's long-standing calls for "regime change" in Cambodia. (Cynthia Bunton, IRI's Asia director, maintains that the organization has always been nonpartisan.)

Over the years, however, the ruling Cambodian People's Party has only continued to consolidate power, bolstered by Hun Sen's strong-arm tactics and an expanding grass-roots base. Many believe the SRP has lost its critical bark since its eponymous leader's return from self-imposed exile in France last year. The CPP accepted IRI's offer of political training for the first time in its history last fall, and IRI has been able to explore alternative means of cultivating a more open society in Cambodia.

"You have a hole in the boat, and water is coming through that hole," explained Thun Saray, director of Adhoc, a leading rights organization. "You have to plug the hole without making the boat turn over."

Certainly, the reality show's contestants hardly come off as radicals; they're the good kids, overachievers chosen from nearly 200 candidates. But the program has capitalized on their youth and ambition by leaning on another infamous U.S. export: American cultural mystique.

In a country where 70 percent of the population is under 30, Cambodians have an overwhelmingly positive opinion of the United States, as IRI's own 2004 poll confirmed. Bunton emphasized that the show's organizers "tried to tweak [the program] to be relevant to Cambodians." But the competition's big prize is hardly an afterthought. "That's why everyone wanted to be on the show—to go to the U.S.," said contestant Sorn Sarath, 24, who had already posted a photo of the U.S. ambassador on the wall of his volunteer-staffed NGO, the Student Movement for Democracy. The first Youth Leadership Challenge winner, Hing Soksan, 26, is another SMD staffer who introduced himself in an interview as an orphan and a future NGO officer. Unable to find a suitable job in Cambodia, Soksan hopes to use his trip to the United States "to learn from American leaders … and make Cambodia have more freedom than it has now."

At the same time, the contestants are hardly guileless consumers of everything Amerik. For them, the show's most outrageous task wasn't canvassing pool halls or handing out condoms on Valentine's Day, it was being criticized on camera. In a culture where "losing face" remains cause for shame, the judges dissected the contestants' leadership flaws—then had them turn on one another.

"In Cambodian culture, we don't say these things directly. We have to save face," said Socheata. "I've learned how to go after people directly. You have to be very good at seeing the weak points of other people, and you have to go back after them."

For one of the judges, that unrestrained public criticism lies at the heart of the show's edifying mission. "It's part of American culture—the competition of ideas," said Theary Seng, the Cambodian-American director of the Center for Social Development. "In a market economy, everything goes through a refining process, and the best idea or product will surface."

Trump couldn't have said it better himself.

Suzy Khimm is a writer based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. She has contributed to the Christian Science Monitor and Los Angeles Times.